The women, aged between 29 and 36 years, died after undergoing weight-loss procedures.

The defendant fled the Kingdom despite being banned from traveling, chairman of the Legal Medical Commission Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Ajiri said in a statement published by an Arabic-language newspaper.

The administration of the private hospital has also been put on trial, he added.

“This is because the hospital authorities allegedly permitted the doctor to continue operating even after the patients were dying,” the official said.

He added the hospital did not report the matter to the commission when the deaths occurred. Soon after receiving the reports the commission issued memos to stop the doctor fleeing the country.

He said 90 percent of the error reports the commission received involved expatriate doctors employed at private hospitals. He added that 80 percent of the victims were women patients.

“The punishments from medical errors are not left to the discretion of a judge. The Ministry of Health has determined the punishments, such as a fine of SR100,000 or six months jail time or both punishments together depending on the nature of the crime,” said Al-Ajiri.

He complained that advanced methods are not used while monitoring the licensing of doctors.

He attributed the increasing errors in private hospitals to unlicensed doctors, poor medical facilities, lack of consultant doctors and above all the emphasis on profit over quality.

In another development, Madinah police are investigating four expatriate doctors who were arrested with fake certificates at a private hospital on Saturday, Al-Watan newspaper reported Monday.

The police have extended the detention of a Pakistan national who was involved in the fabrication of the certificates. The police also released eight other doctors after interrogations.